Finding Murphy

A village turns up for a lost cat

By Margaret Tearman

Murphy is missing. The sweet-natured cat disappeared from her home in Chesapeake Overlook, near the Anne Arundel-Calvert line on Sunday, June 5.
Finding Murphy has become a community effort.
There isn’t anything particularly exceptional about Murphy, says her human, Colleen Sabo.
“We’ve had a lot of pets over the years,” she tells Bay Weekly. “But for some reason this cat has captured my heart. I just love her.” The tiger-striped, domestic, short-hair disappeared while Colleen and her husband were away for the weekend. A friend was feeding Murphy, who came to the Sabos as a stray eight years ago. Wandering is part of her routine.
“She is an indoor/outdoor cat,” Sabo says. “Our friend let her outside, which was completely normal.”
When the Sabos returned home on Monday, no Murphy came to greet them.
When Tuesday rolled around with still no Murphy, the search was on.
As the Sabos walked the neighborhood, calling for their cat, they were joined by neighbors.
“One of our neighbors has a doggie door that Murphy sometimes uses,” Sabo says. “So we searched their house.”
When the foot search failed to find the cat, posters went up.
“We’ve put out more than 250, from southern Anne Arundel County to northern Calvert,” Sabo says.
Then came some unexpected help.
Instead of citing Sabo for driving erratically on her way to deliver a poster to the emergency animal hospital in Huntingtown, a Maryland State Trooper asked for flyers he could hand out.
Next the Sabos turned for help to Dogs Finding Dogs.
The very next day Christine Rojas and Keelah arrived to track Murphy. They returned a few days later after rain, hoping her scent had been refreshed.
Keelah picked up Murphy’s scent, but it vanished into thin air.
Murphy turned up, momentarily, in a Calvert schoolyard, a teacher reported to Sabo. “They’d been talking about the flyers and missing cat. When a cat walked through, they shouted, Murphy!”
The two-plus-week search has not located Murphy, but it has refreshed the Sabos’ belief in community values.
“It’s amazing,” Sabo says, “how the kindness of strangers can give you a lift.”
If you see Murphy, call the Sabos at 301-855-6128 or 301-467-9253.